Cirque de Flamme
by Syntox
Summary: Deep in the heart of Caldera City lay the famous "Flame Circus." Known for it's daring performances and regal setting, it rightly held it's place at number one in the entertainment industry of the world. Join one of the newest stars, Katara, as she leaves her home in the Southern Water Tribe to chase bigger and better dreams in the unkown city of flames. Katara x Zuko


Cirque de Flamme

An ATLA story with a modern twist.

Summary:

_Deep in the heart of Caldera City in the Fire Nation lay the famous "Flame Circus." Known for it's daring performances and regal setting, it rightly held it's place at number one in the entertainment industry of the world. Join one of the newest stars, Katara, as she leaves her home in the Southern Water Tribe to chase bigger and better dreams in the unkown city of flames. A story of aspirations, dreams, and romance. Katara x Zuko. Rated T for minor language and suggestive adult themes._

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Chapter One: First Flight

**I**

I heaved up another cardboard box, placing it among my other belongings in the steel ship's cargo. It was one of the last to go, finally. We'd been loading for what felt like two whole hours, but what had really most probably have been a short twenty minutes. To say I was excited was a complete understatement. My cheeks already hurt from the smile I'd been sporting all day, courtesy of the knowledge of my destination. It'd come off as quickly as I had seen Gran-Gran though, wishing her pleasant wakings in the morning. I could see it in her face, the subtle sadness. I knew she was happy for me, elated even, when the big news had come from the scouting agent confirming my acceptance into the acclaimed Cirque de Flamme.

I had squealed, covering my mouth in pleasant shock. My brother had swallowed me into the warmest embrace as he patted my back. Even my beloved grandmother had laughed and clapped, repeating "Well done Katara, I'm so proud of you." And I knew she was. But today, the day of my departure, I finally saw it and I understood perfectly. How could I not? This beautiful woman with a heart of gold, had raised my brother and I since the day our mother died. Our father, who loved us as powerfully as he could, was always busy and therefore could not spend the time with us that our mother did. And for that he thanked Gran-Gran, who was always there to nurture and love us as we grew up.

I had squeezed my grandmother as tight as I could, for as long as I could that morning. Tears had covered my face, streaming down as I thanked my grandmother for everything and repeating how much I love her and how I always would. She grasped me tightly and repeated the loving things I'd heard throughout my life over and over again, kissing my cheeks and forehead. She was proud of me, and she loved me, and she wished me the safest of travels. My father and brother came in later and we took a moment to pray to Tui and La for the wonderful opportunities I had recieved and to be safe and protected while I was at sea. In the afternoon we finally arrived to the port of our wondrous city, where we were to load my belongings and wish our final farewells. We had passed by Water Twistars, the gym I had trained almost my whole life in, to bid goodbye and say thanks to my coaches.

The world of gymnastics was not a kind one. Yet through all the tears and blood, through sweat and determination, my dream had finally come true, just two short weeks ago. I had always dreamed of joining a big-time circus when I was older. I enjoyed competing and going to the meets, but I knew nothing would be compared to the joy and excitement of the big-top performances. We had always heard stories from the graduates of our gym who had travelled out to other circuses. I had favored the Terra Circus in Omashu, another famed circus. I had never thought about what would happen if the number one circus, Cirque de Flamme, scouted me. I never would have thought I was Flamme material. But who was I to argue? Hah.

I was drawn out of my musings as Sokka slightly elbowed me. It was time to say goodbye already. We all held onto each other tightly, basking in the warmth. It was not until the ship's captain reminded me we had to leave before dusk that we finally parted. With good luck's and farewell's behind me, I mounted the vessel, waving to my family and friends as we finally moved. I sighed lightly as I made my way down into the ship's roomed areas. This was going to be a long trip.

**II**

It was early in the afternoon when we finally reached the Great Gates of Azulon. After marveling at the sight of the beautiful red and golden landmark, we finished docking in Harbor City. My things were loaded onto a traveller's carriage, hefty enough to ride under the reasonable load. I was sort of happy to be back on solid land. I loved the water of course, I was undeniably still a waterbender, but being at sea just proved to make me more anxious about my arrival. We left for the Royal Caldera City as soon as my belongings were set and ready to go. The ride up to the Fire Nation's capital city was rather uneventful. A long, winding road up the side of the volcano crater had little to no sightseeing possibilties. Grassy plains and then turmultously gray rock covered my sight. There were a few statues and decorative railings alongside the road here and there, but still not much.

Entering the royal city however, was a complete eye opener. Deep, bountiful shades of red made up the city's main describing color. The color gold seeped into the buildings' details, like someone had poured the precious ore into a spectacular and finely detailed mould. The sunset only made it's appearance that much more regal. We moved through the streets like wildfire, so that we could reach the Circus building. It was then that the anxiety rose again in the pit of my stomach. My heart flipped and flopped around. Even while taking in the sights, the markets, the tall, overbearing buildings and all the statues and memorials, none of it could take my mind of the main thought. How would my first practice go? Would I make any friends? I knew most of these girls were fire nation acrobatic progidies, trained to perform in their home country's proudful building. They were the reason it was at the top of the charts. But how would we fare? Would they see me as competition and try to upstage me? Or would they welcome me as family, seeing as how we all had the same goal. I could only find out, and that was what was killing me. Finding out. The wait. We pulled up to a luxurious building, Circus and Big-Top nowhere in sight. The tall, looming building was a triplet, I mused. Two other glimmering and identical buildings sat next to it, seperated only by short and beautifully stylized hedges. They were mostly a sleek black with gold trimmings. My driver explained to me that they served both as apartments and hotels. Where some rooms could be bought or rented and others under the traditional hotel dealings.

Walking into the lobby, the crisp and sleek feeling of the building only went up in rating. It was like those I had seen on the broadcasting networks. Black leather chaises and sectionals lined the walls, and I'm assuming what is supposed to be dark mahogany made up the tables and concierge desk. A tall, imposing woman greeted me near the long desk. I pulled a strand of my dark brown hair behind my ear as I approached her. She had creamy, pale skin and long midnight black hair. She was wearing black dress pants and a silky red button-up shirt tucked neatly into her pants and sleeves rolled up 3/4 of the way. She had a small smile on her face, which kindly offset the too-formal feeling in the room.

"Hello there, Katara. What a pleasure it is to meet you," She said kindly, moving to shake my hand. "My name is Azrael. I am the women's coordinator, and your new head coach. Here is your room key, 511, and a copy just in case," She continued as she handed her two golden keys. "Practice starts at 7:30 on the dot. I'm sure your roommates already have alarms set to 6, so you shouldn't have to worry. Just follow everyone out here to the lobby, the buses arrive at 7am sharp. Your belongings are already being brought up to your room. Do you have any questions?" She finished with a smile adorning her face. I did my best to keep up with the lady's commentary. Wake up at 6, be in the lobby at 7.

I shook my head, responding with a quick no. "Good," Azrael responded. "Then I'll be off. Have a nice night, miss Katara." And with that, she briskly walked away and all I could process was the sound of her heels clicking on the dark wooden floors. I took in another deep breath as I made my way to the elevators, patting down my navy sweatpants to put my keys in. The elevator doors slid open and I stepped inside, quickly pressing the button for my floor. I looked to my side, noticing the mirrors on the walls of the elevator. I'd done my hair in a simple ponytail with two loops and a blue clip. I admired the chocolate brown waves that fell to just below my shoulders, running my hands through them. The elevator dinged, and I kind of jumped up in surprise as I stepped out. Quickly the anxiousness that pooled at the pit of my stomach returned. I was going to be sharing a room with other girls. I wondered how many, and again how they would treat me. I got one of the keys out of my pocket and read the signs on the walls to get to my room, trying to memorize the directions as quickly as I could. When I reached the door to my new room, I took a nice breath and stared at the door. A fancy, black plaque with the numbers '511' in gold seemed to intimidate me.

The whole thing was so surreal. It was still unimaginable to think I had traveled this far, that I was already deep in the Fire Nation's capital. It felt more like a hallucination than a dream. _"Am I really here?"_ I thought. I let out another deep breath as I finally pressed the metal key into the lock, turning it and pushing into the door to let me in. I was greeted by a brightly lit room, immediately to my right were a set of sliding, mirrored bedroom doors. I closed my door and headed down the short hallway into the kitchen and living room area, greeted by the sight of two other girls. I managed a strange 'hello' as I looked at what seemed to be a dare or something. One of the girls, with short black hair, was doing a sort of crumpled handstand on the kitchen counter, pressing her feet up into the ceiling with her knees bent. It worked a giggle out of me because the sight was pretty ridiculous. The other girl had longer, light brown hair and gray eyes, and was taking a picture. Once the brown haired girl got off the counter, both of them smiled at me and apologized.

"Welcome! You're Katara right? We didn't know when you'd get here so we just kind of went off and did or own thing here," The blonde explained with a set of giggles. The brown haired girl quickly took over and introduced theirselves.

"Hey, I'm Luiza," She started and then pointed at her friend. "And this here is Valerika. Welcome to your new home! We hope you like it here. It's already pretty late so we should all head to bed. If you want something to eat, there's plenty of food in the fridge!" She smiled as she pointed to the gray refridgerator. "Your room is through the mirror doors near the entrance, they brought in all your stuff already. Good night!" The girls hurried up to me and suddenly gave me quick hugs, heading off to their respective rooms. It was late, I agreed. I was hungry from the long trip into the city so I warmed myself into actually taking a look inside the fridge. The food looked entirely strange. It was entirely different from Water Tribe food, I summed up quickly. No squid or seal jerky in sight. Not even seaweed cookies. I picked up a small plastic see-through box filled some type of leafy greens. I closed the fridge door and put the box down on the counter, popping open the lid. I picked up a piece of green and bit into it. It had a weird taste, but I would most likely get used to it I guess. I finished up the rest of the box's contents and place it in the sink.

I walked back down the hallway and slid open my room's doors looking at the bed with heavenly pleasure running through my mind. The bed looked super comfortable! I jumped in it, feeling the heavy silks jump from my landing. The whole place just smelled like a deep, vanilla and lilac scent. Mixed with something more musky, like charcoal or something. Not too unexpected. I spent about another half hour tidying my room and getting ready to sleep. Flashes of events passed through my mind in a rush, and as soon as I knew it, the darkness swept me up and I was already dreaming.

**III**

The shrill beeping of alarms was the first thing I heard as I was startled awake only to open my eyes into more darkness. I looked over at my nightstand, hate pouring through my mind as I glared at the clock. 6:01, it read. I pushed out of the heavenly silks and cottons on my bed as I reached for the light switch, too freaking bright was the first thought I had as I flipped the switch. I yawned and maneuvered my way to the bathroom door, trying to start my day as best as I could.

25 minutes later found me getting dressed in one of my most comfortable leotards. The material flush against my skin, I had opted for my favorite red with black and silver swirls design. Tying my hair back into a tight ponytail, I put on a pair of black sweats and warm-up jacket, making sure all my gym things were packed into my blue duffle bag. I set the bag outside my room doors and headed for the kitchen, seeing the other girls already in their seats at the table.

"Pleasant wakings!" Luiza greeted. "There's another plate of pancakes on the counter, help yourself!"

A half hour later we were all in the lobby, there were about thirty girls here, waiting for the bus to come. I was introduced to a few other girls by Valerica and Luiza. A lot of them were pretty open and bubbly, in my opinion. There were a few that kind of look more serious, the older girls by what I could tell. Most of us here were around 16 to 20 years old, me being 17 already. I was told that most of the guys were all older than 20. There was this one girl, who I thought was _way_ too happy considering the time, her name is Ty Lee. Apparently she's got like 7 sisters or something, that must be awful...or fun, I wouldn't really know. I can barely get along with Sokka without an argument being the end result. We love each other of course, but we just do not get along normally. I missed him though, and everyone back home. I was brought out of my thoughts when we heard a loud beeping noise outside, probably the bus I assume.

I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder, catching up with the other girls. It was a short, ten minute ride to the arena where the large, gold and red canvas tents were set up. I looked at them in wonder- it was amazing! I'd only seen it on paper; advertisements and some pictures. But it was nothing like the real thing. Torches were planted decoratively around the entire area, unlit as the sun rose over and provided more than sufficient light. We filed out of the bus and poured into the big top, removing our warm-ups and shoes. We put our bags neatly into a corner. I looked up, noting the extremely high ceiling, the canvas painted a beautiful burgundy red. Platforms set a different heights lined the walls on both the left and right. The seats went high up, half of them on the north side and the rest on the south side of the huge tent. They were already setting up the trapeze net, high above the stage but just below the four lowest platforms; enough to give the artists enough room to swing.

A piercing whistle and then we moved to the middle of the stage to line up. It was kind of a mess, for me anyway. We're supposed to line up by height, and it took me a couple of tries to find out just where I belonged. I chewed my lip as the coaches walked up in front. I recognized Azrael, who was on the far left of the Director. Said director, a tall man with black hair and a small goatee, clapped his hands twice before beginning his announcement.

"Alright, good morning ladies and gentlemen," He began in a booming voice. "I'm proud to announce the beginning of the new show season. For the rest of the summer we will adapt to a new show theme, working title 'Volkai'. This week we will be working to produce a suitable cast list, so please bear with us. We've also got a few new acrobats to join us from now on, so please welcome them kindly. That is all from me, please have a safe practice." With that, he finished talking and presumely walked off the stage. Another one of the coaches quickly stepped in and got our attention.

"Practice will now officially start. We will commence open stretch. After we are done, please head backstage and gather your necessary training equipment." She clapped her hands twice and gestured for us to move into some open spaces. I looked around and managed to take an open area on the ground, big enough and comfortable for me to move around. Everyone quickly went into the splits, and I followed suit. I made sure to touch my front knee with my forehead for as long as I could and stretched my back as well. After a while everyone got into their own thing, doing whatever stretch they felt like. I rolled my ankles and wrists around and a few girls started chatting with me until we were all just laying around, doing nothing. I really enjoyed the fact that I kind of just managed to join the group without a hassle. I rested my chin on my hands and tuned into the conversation. I didn't understand everything they were talking about though. It was mostly people, like the nobles and royalty, and also a mixture of fashion and places to go. I couldn't help but to think back to the south pole, and how everything was different. Literally, like polar opposites.

The whistle made its way through the big-top again and everyone, including me, dashed up and we all headed backstage. As soon as I stepped through the door, my eyebrows shot up, I could feel it. The backstage area was more intricate and much more grand than the public area. Winding, wooden staircases cascaded through the building, leading up to the trapeze and high wire platforms above. We made our way to the dressing rooms in the back, greeted by shiny mirrors and flashy lights. There was a sort of casual line leading up to a big wooden trunk at the end, which was apparently filled with stage equipment. Some girls grabbed hoops and ribbons, others hand grips and acrobatic shoes. When I finally reach the trunk, I'm a bit surprised that it's not as empty as I thought it would be, because so many girls had grabbed out of it. It still looked plentiful, and I grazed around with my hand, grabbing the pre-wrap and tape for my wrists and ankles, along with hand grips. I worked both trapeze and handbalancing, so I decided to make the trip up to the platforms as soon as I could. I saw Valerika heading up on another staircase and quickly yelled out to her, and she smiled and waved back at me, pointing to the top of the tent. "Wire!" I heard her yell. So she was going to the high wire huh? Interesting. Maybe I could try a few balances up there. But first, trapeze.

I hauled my way up one of the trapeze staircases with a few other girls, opting to stay at the first, lower platform rather than going up to the high platform. I walked out onto the medium-sized platform, looking at the stage below. I was kind of surprised to see the fire dancers and performers with torches, but then I mentally slapped myself for forgetting I was in the Fire Nation. _Of course _there would be fire acts. I looked back in front of me, or up, actually, to see one of the trapeze swings being lowered down to a height just above my head. It was enough for me to be able to grasp the bar and push off the platform, which was exactly what I planned to do. I caught eye contact with another girl, who was in the platform mirroring mine. She yelled something along the lines of _"Do you need me to swing this one for you?" _Which I hastily nodded my head and responded 'yeah'. I was orginally intending to do a few timers and start off with some basic swings, but it'd be much faster to go ahead and do some swing rotations.

Quickly pulling on my hand grips, which consisted of a small wrist brace with a strap of leather going up the middle of my hand and two holes for my middle and ring fingers, I tightened my hair once more to make sure it wouldn't fly out mid-way. I grabbed some chalk and easily brushed my hands with it until the powdery substance was thickly layered on my hands. I gripped the swing, noting the black body and gold ends, and went on my tippy-toes. Taking in a deep breath, and calculating, always calculating, how deep the swing should go.

Giving a strong push off the edge of the platform, I quickly settled my body into a tight form. Arms and legs extended, toes pointed and stomach squeezed. I spotted the approaching swing in front of me, headed towards me as I fought to keep my body perfectly aligned. Timing my movement, I further extended my body as much as I could and arched my back, ready to go into the somersault that would led me onto the next swing. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and quickly released the swing, sending my body forward. I felt everything, going through the motions of what I'd done since an early age. Quickly, I pushed my legs over my body, still perfectly straight and extended, arching my back as far as I could and tilting my head to where I could see my toes, spotted the swing in front of me. I pulled my arms straight out in front of me, positioning my hands and fingers so I could grab onto the long bar.

As soon as the bar tapped my palms, I squeezed the apparatus and swung my body again into the original extended shape- successfully completing my laid-out somersault. I let out another long breath as I let gravity go back to work and floated me back to the other platform, where I quickly extended my foot and took a hop onto the edge, quickly taking a few steps forward. I smiled as I was greeted with a few high-fives and well done's.

"That was very pretty," A deep voice reached out. I turned to the source, seeing a handsome man in about his early twenties, gripping onto the swing with his right hand as he smiled at me. He had short black hair and gorgeous green eyes. "Welcome to the Caldera." He continued, offering another brilliant smile. I mumbled a thank you and stepped back into the doorway, leaning into the side of the threshold as I adjusted my grips and smiled back at him. With that, he leaned forward into the bar, and pushed off the platform, sending himself flying through the big-top, just as I had done only a few minutes before. A small sigh escaped my lips as I grinned, once again taking in my surroundings. I was finally here.

_I finally made it._


End file.
